Self is a band that is spearheaded by its brainchild, Matt Mahaffey, an American multi-instrumentalist, record producer and recording engineer.

Matt grew up in Kingsport, Tennessee and was involved with music from a young age. He started writing songs and playing the drums at age 4 and would often perform with his brother, Mike Mahaffey, when they were growing up. By age eleven, he was playing drums at Dollywood, Dolly Parton's theme park in Pigeon Forge. In the mid-nineties he moved to Murfreesboro, TN and attended MTSU where he would live and work for 10 years and co-founded Spongebath Records. He also formed the band Self in 1994.

In the early 2000s, Matt relocated from Murfreesboro to Los Angeles, in order to be closer to his record label and to produce.